OWNED! Nissan's truck sales stumble

[NFS4]

Credit VWV:

Nissan's truck sales stumble
By Kathy Jackson
Automotive News / April 12, 2004

Nissan is struggling with disappointing sales for three models built at its 1-year-old plant in Canton, Miss.

Dealers are having trouble meeting sales projections for the full-sized Titan pickup and Armada SUV. And Nissan already has backed down from aggressive sales projections for its restyled Quest minivan launched last summer.

Nissan committed $1.4 billion to construct a multivehicle assembly plant in Canton to produce the Titan pickup, Quest minivan, Armada SUV and its QX56 Infiniti version, as well as the Altima sedan.

"More marketing is needed," says Jed Connelly, senior vice president for sales and marketing at Nissan North America Inc.

He says Nissan will begin a round of regional advertising for the Titan beginning this month and for the Armada in June.

Overall, Nissan sales rose 32.8 percent through the first three months of the year compared with 2003. But its Altima sedan - in one of the United States' most competitive and low-margin segments - is carrying the weight.

Nissan launched its first full-sized pickup in December, with predicted sales of 100,000 Titans and 40,000 Armadas during its first full year on the market. The Armada went on sale in October.

In the first quarter, Nissan sold just 14,207 Titans and 7,633 Armadas. When Nissan introduced the Quest in July, executives predicted sales of 80,000 to 85,000 in 2004. But volume has been between 3,000 and 4,000 a month.

The Armada "has the right hardware and pricing, but the name is new to the industry," Connelly says. "You can't overestimate the time it takes to seed a new name in the marketplace."

Swollen inventories

Meanwhile, inventory is piling up for the three Nissan trucks. The company had a 110-day supply of Armadas on April 1, a 97-day supply of Quests and a 95-day supply of Titans.

"We're ramping up on Titan," Connelly says. "Trucks are unlike cars. We like to run a 50-day supply of cars. But we found out days' supply of trucks need to be higher - about 75 days. That's because truck buyers like to see a lot more models."

Nissan says the lower-than-expected factory volumes are not a problem. Canton's total capacity of 400,000 vehicles a year is divided among five products and two brands. Workers there can move from one product to another.

Production of the Quest and Altima are expected to total 250,000 units a year. That leaves 150,000 units of annual production for the three big body-on-frame trucks.

After the launch, Nissan heavily advertised both the Titan and Armada for several weeks, then pulled back.

The Titan faces powerfully entrenched competition. It is up against the redesigned Ford F series as well as the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Dodge Ram. And Toyota will be in the market soon with a successor to its Tundra full-sized pickup.

Nissan's smaller Murano SUV, introduced in late 2002, took time to catch on. "Murano was a new name but maybe not in as competitive a segment," Connelly says.

Though Nissan will begin advertising the Titan and Armada again, he says the ad budget is limited.

"Right now we're moving marketing dollars around; there are no incremental dollars," he says. "We want to continue the weight on Titan and Armada. Titan and Altima are the two core products for us. When we advertised the Titan, hits on our Web site went through the roof. As soon as we stopped advertising, hits went down."

 

[edro]

Honda's truck will pwn them all!

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: edro13
Honda's truck will pwn them all!

LOL, yeah right

Yet another Accord based vehicle

 

[LordJezo]

OMG TEH JAPS ARE NOT NO1!!!!1111!111!!!!!!11

OH TEH NOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111!!!!11

---

Looking for time out?

AnandTech Moderator

 

[StageLeft]

That's not right. The Titan kicks your ass, and that's an unbiased opinion!

Whomever said Honda will make a better truck should run themselves off a bridge. Honda making a truck? LOL!!

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
That's not right. The Titan kicks your ass, and that's an unbiased opinion!

Whomever said Honda will make a better truck should run themselves off a bridge. Honda making a truck? LOL!!

unbiased opinion on nissan coming from you? impossible!

 

[tec699]

meh. Just give me a Nizzan Z and I'll be very very happy. In fact, I might have to purchase one when I graduate from college this fall.

 

[Ornery]

WTF, they only make 4dr, short beds!

 

[ElFenix]

i'm sure this has nothing to do with all 3 being ugly as sin

 

[Aharami]

yea i saw the quest on the road the other day. it was freaking ugly as hell!! almost left a bad taste in my mouth

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Aharami
yea i saw the quest on the road the other day. it was freaking ugly as hell!! almost left a bad taste in my mouth

It would leave a bad taste in the mouth of a blind man. Visually that vehicle is horrific.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Ornery
WTF, they only make 4dr, short beds!

This is the truck that can't get a 2 door on right? I don't know if I'm the only one, but I think 4 door trucks of all sizes look ugly as hell. Just put a standard cab on that thing. Its not a frickin' luxury vehicle, its truck.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: Ornery
WTF, they only make 4dr, short beds!

This is the truck that can't get a 2 door on right? I don't know if I'm the only one, but I think 4 door trucks of all sizes look ugly as hell. Just put a standard cab on that thing. Its not a frickin' luxury vehicle, its truck.

This is America. By God you can have a truck AND a luxury vehicle!

 

[Red]

Lies!

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Ornery
WTF, they only make 4dr, short beds!

the vast, vast majority of truck owners get some sort of extended cab version. of course it wouldn't be hard to offer a regular cab, extended bed version, but its more development funds and not a very large market

 

[vi edit]

I think some of the problem may be that the dealers have the wrong inventory on the Titan.

You can't find any of the XE's which are a STEAL of a bargain. With an invoice of just over $20k it's a ton of vehicle for the $$. But, the only ones that the dealers have in stock are the much more expensive SE's and whatnot selling for over $27,000.

Also, GM is bleeding money out the ass in rebates really boosting their sales artificially as well. So that's hard to compete with.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Also, GM is bleeding money out the ass in rebates really boosting their sales artificially as well. So that's hard to compete with.

how is competing on price 'artificial'?

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: edro13
Honda's truck will pwn them all!

It'll be the world's first truck offered exclusively with FWD and a 2L 4-banger.

Just wait till the riceboys get their hands on that. Soooooo much extra room to mount and even bigger spoiler on the back.

 

[CChaos]

I skipped most of the trucks when I was at the NYIAS on Friday, but what I did see of the Titan was pretty impressive. The pickup drivers I know are usually very loyal to the brand they buy so breaking into this segment, no matter what you offer, won't be easy.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: Ornery
WTF, they only make 4dr, short beds!

This is the truck that can't get a 2 door on right? I don't know if I'm the only one, but I think 4 door trucks of all sizes look ugly as hell. Just put a standard cab on that thing. Its not a frickin' luxury vehicle, its truck.

This is America. By God you can have a truck AND a luxury vehicle!

Didnt NFS4 say they were giving away free cars with the purchase of a Lincoln Blackwood?

 

[vi edit]

how is competing on price 'artificial'?

They aren't competing on price. They just keep adding incentives till they can move the vehicles they need to. If they wanted to compete on price, they'd just mark down the damn sticker price by $3000 and not offer any rebates.

Like Honda and Toyota. Although they do offer *some* incentives, but nothing like $3000 or $4000.

 

[vi edit]

Didnt NFS4 say they were giving away free cars with the purchase of a Lincoln Blackwood?

That was me. Some dealers were giving away free Mercury Cougars (another flatline in sales vehicle) if you purchased a Blackwood at the full MSRP.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Ornery
WTF, they only make 4dr, short beds!

the vast, vast majority of truck owners get some sort of extended cab version. of course it wouldn't be hard to offer a regular cab, extended bed version, but its more development funds and not a very large market

Huh. I didn't know that. I just figured with all the light trucks that had regular and extended cabs I see around most people agreed with me that 4 door trucks looked ugly. Who wants a huge truck like the titan with a short bed though? Just buy an SUV.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

how is competing on price 'artificial'?

They aren't competing on price. They just keep adding incentives till they can move the vehicles they need to. If they wanted to compete on price, they'd just mark down the damn sticker price by $3000 and not offer any rebates.

Like Honda and Toyota. Although they do offer *some* incentives, but nothing like $3000 or $4000.

how is a rebate not competing on price? it is, after all, lowering the price that someone has to pay to get the truck.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Ornery
WTF, they only make 4dr, short beds!

the vast, vast majority of truck owners get some sort of extended cab version. of course it wouldn't be hard to offer a regular cab, extended bed version, but its more development funds and not a very large market

Huh. I didn't know that. I just figured with all the light trucks that had regular and extended cabs I see around most people agreed with me that 4 door trucks looked ugly. Who wants a huge truck like the titan with a short bed though? Just buy an SUV.

you suck at reading.